Inside TVNZ’s gang story backlash: How the broadcaster responded

Friday, 3 April 2026

TVNZ faced criticism over its February story from police minister Mark Mitchell.

A February broadcast on gang numbers prompted public condemnation from a minister, and private criticism from the PM’s office. Stewart Sowman-Lund breaks down the timeline.

There was some internal disagreement within TVNZ about whether a February story about gang numbers on 1News that sparked a political backlash lacked balance, emails obtained by The Post show.

On February 26, 1News political reporter Benedict Collins reported during the 6pm bulletin that the official number of gang members in New Zealand had overtaken the number of police officers. However, his report did not include new figures released that day by the government touting a reduction in crime victims and repeat youth offending.

The reporting prompted public criticism from Police Minister Mark Mitchell, who took to Facebook with his concerns.

“Absolutely unbelievable that on a day that the Government announces 49,000 fewer victims of violent crime and a 22 per cent decrease in serious repeat youth offending, 1News chose instead to engage in unbalanced journalism by running a story about gang membership with none of the context around the outstanding work our Police are doing in cracking down on gangs in New Zealand,” Mitchell said in his post, published at 7.02pm - just minutes after 1News finished airing.

More media reporting by Stewart Sowman-Lund:

Politicians appear to have taken a harder line in recent months criticising reporting they disapprove of; newly-promoted defence minister Chris Penk recently took aim at RNZ’s The Detail, while housing minister Chris Bishop criticised The Post over a polling story: “It would be nice if we had accurate, fair reporting,” he wrote on social media.

Under the Official Information Act, The Post requested internal correspondence from TVNZ, Mitchell and the office of justice minister Paul Goldsmith related to concerns over the gang story.

Emails provided by TVNZ show what happened behind the scenes in the days after Collins’ story went to air, and what led to a follow-up story being broadcast five days later that did publicise the figures Mitchell wanted aired.

How it played out

On the morning of February 27, the day after the original story aired, 1News’ outgoing news and current affairs boss Phil O’Sullivan shared Mitchell’s Facebook post with political editor Maiki Sherman.

Sherman had not seen the post, but said she had spoken to Collins the night before and “believed the matter had been resolved”.

She continued: “Having read the Facebook post and comments, including the scale of engagement on the post, I acknowledge that the situation is not great and that it harms the credibility of our office and organisation which is disappointing.”

The email also confirms that Sherman offered an apology to Mitchell, as has previously been reported, and outlined “where … the coverage could have been improved”.

While O’Sullivan said that he believed that response would “suffice for now”, the prime minister’s office then waded in.

Christopher Luxon’s chief press secretary Finn Stichbury emailed O’Sullivan later that day to express concern about a “lack of balance” in Collins’ story, “particularly as we head into an election campaign”.

He wrote: “The data Benedict had is newsworthy but to omit brand new data announced yesterday … looks like a deliberate lack of balance.”

Stichbury said this was not the first time the PM’s office had raised concerns about Collins’ reporting, citing a previous poll story. “It’s concerning to see a similar thing happen again.”

O’Sullivan was asked how TVNZ will be ensuring its political coverage upholds balance heading into the November election.

This email was passed onto both Sherman and Collins for a response, especially around the “lack of balance” accusation.

Collins, in an emailed response to O’Sullivan, defended his reporting - though a significant portion of the message has been redacted by TVNZ.

“Our focus with the track was to break an exclusive law and order story showing gang members now outnumber cops, something Luxon had promised wouldn't happen under his watch - this is important to highlight,” he wrote.

“There was no deliberate lack of balance.”

A 1News “newsgathering editor”, whose name has been redacted, did express concern with the story in an email to O’Sullivan. “Lots of thoughts. I think this item did lack balance,” they wrote, although TVNZ has redacted the remainder of this email.

By March 2, 19 complaints had been received about the story. Emails show TVNZ was not particularly concerned by this and that the volume of complaints was significantly fewer than had been received over previous reporting.

“We could have 100 - 150 complaints about stories (particularly stories about 1News Kantar poll results and economics) last election,” one email read.

There were three themes for the complaints, a staffer added: that it was “a gang law beat up”, showed gangs and regalia, and did not mention the 49,000 fewer victims of violent crime.

Some of the complaints were almost word for word taken from Mitchell’s Facebook post, it was claimed.

“If we do believe that the story lacked balance then that can be remedied … it doesn’t have to happen on the same day for the requirements of the [Broadcasting Standards Authority’s] balance standard to be met.”

TVNZ aired its follow-up report the next day.

It was also revealed in the same week that TVNZ’s board chairperson Andrew Barclay had briefly raised the story during a pre-arranged phone call with justice and media minister Paul Goldsmith.

On March 5, TVNZ’s chief executive Jodi O’Donnell emailed her newsroom to address the “significant media coverage” that had followed the broadcast of the gang story.

“As you will be aware, Minister Goldsmith said he spoke with our Chair, and the story was brought up in passing. I was not party to that conversation. I want to be clear: that call did not influence our editorial decision-making and at no time did I feel any pressure from Directors to raise the story with newsroom leadership,” O’Donnell wrote.

“I understand why the sequence of events here has created a perception and has put TVNZ under scrutiny. I don’t take that lightly, and it’s a frustrating position for the newsroom to be in.”

Separately, The Post also requested official information related to the controversy from both Mitchell and Goldsmith’s offices - though the latter request has been delayed.

However, TVNZ provided a “summary” of the four-minute phone call between board chair Barclay and Goldsmith on March 1.

“During that short call, the TVNZ Chair noted in passing some criticism of TVNZ on social media in relation to the 26 February story on gang numbers. The Minister did not express any view on the story nor was one invited.”

A response from Mitchell’s office said that there was no internal correspondence related to his Facebook post condemning the TVNZ report, but phone logs confirm he spoke with Sherman on February 27.

On March 23, in response to a written question from Labour’s media spokesperson Reuben Davidson, Mitchell said: “I have not, nor has anyone on my behalf, contacted any member of the TVNZ board in any capacity.”